Lighting: Health Hazards

David Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect of compact fluorescent lightbulbs on people suffering from Menieres disease. [187646]

Ann Keen [holding answer 21 February 2008]:The Department has not commissioned any research on the effects of compact fluorescent light bulbs on those living with Menieres disease.

Maternity Services: Finance

Anne Milton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of the NHS budget was spent on maternity services in 2006-07. [187262]

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1209W

Ann Keen [holding answer 20 February 2008]: Estimates of national health service expenditure on maternity and reproductive health are available from programme budgeting returns. In the 2006-07 financial year, estimated gross NHS expenditure on maternity and reproductive health was £2.9 billion, accounting for 3.5 per cent. of total expenditure.

NHS

Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) hospitals and (b) NHS organisations Ministers in his Department have visited since taking up their posts. [185561]

Mr. Bradshaw:
The information is as follows.

Minister

Hospitals

NHS organisations

Secretary of State for Health (Alan Johnson)(1)

25

11

Minister of State for Health Services (Ben Bradshaw)(1)

11

13

Minister of State for Public Health (Dawn Primarolo)(1)

0

9

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Services (Ann Keen)(1)

12

9

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Services (Ivan Lewis)(2)

9

3

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Lord Darzi)(1)

12

9

(1 )Between taking up post in June 2007 and February 2008(2 )Between taking up post in June 2006 and February 2008

NHS: Finance

Mr. Lansley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2007, Official Report, column 525W, on NHS finance, how much of the difference referred to is accounted for by (a) the transfer of impairments to annually managed expenditure and (b) latest forecast technical underspends on non-cash; [184476]

(2) what methodology is used by his Department to establish its Spending Review baseline. [184477]

Mr. Bradshaw:
In line with the treatment of all baselines in the comprehensive spending review, the resource baseline for the national health service was set at the level of expected spend excluding exceptional, time limited and one-off items.

As a result, £250 million was transferred from the NHS Departmental Expenditure Limit to NHS Annually Managed Expenditure of funding for impairments. The forecast technical underspend was £560 million.

In addition, the NHS DEL was increased by £60 million to reflect an in-year transfer of funding responsibility from personal social services.

Tim Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much loan interest (a) West Sussex Primary Care Trust and (b) each of the hospital trusts in West Sussex paid back to the NHS in each of the last three years. [186739]

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1210W

Mr. Bradshaw:
Information on interest paid on loans by primary care trusts is not collected centrally.

The following table sets out the interest paid by national health service trusts in Sussex in 2006-07. Information for earlier years was not collected centrally.

Interest paid on loans by NHS trusts in Sussex, 2006-07

NHS trust

£000

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals

39

East Sussex Hospitals

5

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare

68

The Royal West Sussex

29

Worthing and Southlands Hospitals

0

Sussex Partnership

0

Note:
This information was not collected prior to 2006-07. Source:
Audited summarisation schedules of the NHS trusts 2006-07.

NHS: Public Participation

Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the amount of work undertaken by (a) community health councils, (b) patient involvement forums and (c) local involvement networks. [185570]

Ann Keen:
The rationale for arrangements to strengthen the voice of local people is to widen and broaden peoples influence over their services, rather than to reflect the amount or quality of the work undertaken by Community Health Councils (CHCs) and patient and public involvement (PPI) forums.

We know from listening to people during the review of patient and public involvement that more people want to have a greater say about their local services. It is no longer appropriate to have a PPI system which is based around scrutiny of individual services. The new local involvement networks will be able to consider both health and social care, so that PPI can be joined up across the entire patient journey. Crucially, we want more people involved having influence in different ways according to their lifestyle, experience and skills. We will build on the existing experience and knowledge from patients forums.

Mr. Stephen O'Brien:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the former community health councils and their corresponding patient forums and local involvement networks. [185571]

Ann Keen:
There were 184 Community Health Councils and in the main they reflected local authority boundaries, although there were a number of exceptions to this rule.

There is no direct correlation between the areas covered by CHCs and patient and public involvement forums, as forums relate to national health service organisations rather than to a specific geographical area.

There will be 150 local involvement networks corresponding exactly to the number of local authorities with social services responsibilities.

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1211W

NHS: Recruitment

Mr. Frank Field:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of advertisements for IT jobs in the NHS specified that the applicant needed NHS IT experience in the latest period for which figures are available. [187269]

Ann Keen [holding answer 21 February 2008]: NHS Jobs does not collect information on the content of individual vacancy listings.

Obstetrics: Screening

Mr. Don Foster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of adding screening for vasa praevia to standard prenatal testing; [188233]

(2) what assessment he has made of the feasibility of adding screening for vasa praevia to standard prenatal testing; [188234]

(3) how many people died from vasa praevia in each year since 2001. [188235]

Ann Keen [holding answer 22 February 2008]:Routine screening for vasa praevia is not available in hospitals in England. This is because it is a technically difficult condition to detect, even for a highly skilled ultrasonographer with the appropriate specialist equipment (for example, a colour Doppler scanner). Therefore, routine screening for vasa praevia is not currently advocated by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) or recommended by the National Screening Committee (NSC). Should the RCOG change its advice we will consider this and refer it to the NSC.

The total number of deaths involving mention of vasa praevia on the death certificate in England and Wales for 2001 to 2005 (the most recent years for which figures are available) is shown in the following table.

All these deaths were in neonatesthat is, babies under 28 days of age:

Neonatal deaths

2001

1

2002

0

2003

2

2004

1

2005

0

Notes:
1. Figures for 2001-05 were extracted using the International Classification of Diseases ICD 10th revision code P02.6
2. The database of deaths in England and Wales was searched for deaths in 2001-05 with any mention of the ICD-10 codes 069.4, Labour and delivery complicated by vasa praevia (maternal code) or P02.6 Fetus and Newborn affected by other and unspecified conditions of umbilical cord. The text of the certificates with P02.6 was then searched for the term vasa praevia.
3. Data on stillbirths have not been included. Source:
Office for National Statistics

Organs: Donors

Gordon Banks:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the difference between the reported 25 Feb 2008 : Column 1212W
rates of public support for organ donation and outcomes in securing organ donations; and if he will make a statement. [188628]

Ann Keen:
Research carried out by UK Transplant in 2003 showed that 90 per cent. of people state their support for organ donation, but only 25 per cent. of people register on the Organ Donor Register. In its first report, the Organ Donation Taskforce placed great emphasis on understanding the reasons for this, along with the relatively high levels of family refusal to donation and this will be reflected during the implementation phase. The Secretary of State (Alan Johnson) has asked the Taskforce to continue its work in order to look at the potential impact of a system of presumed consent for organ donation.

Palliative Care: Children

Bob Spink:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what funding has been included in primary care trust allocations for 2008-09 in order to enable them to meet the new children's palliative care strategy in (i) building a sustainable service of palliative care networks, including children's hospice services and (ii) supporting community nursing teams; and if he will make a statement. [187979]

Mr. Ivan Lewis:
General allocations to primary care trusts (PCTs) are not broken down into funding for individual services. It is for PCTs to decide how best to resource the priorities set out in the national health service operating framework for 2008-09.

Section two of the operating framework under Priorities states

disabled children: identifying actions and setting local targets on improving the experience of, and ranges of services for, children with disabilities and complex health needs and their families. This includes significantly increasing the range of short breaks, improving the quality and experience of palliative care services, improving access to therapies and supporting effective transition to adult services.

On 19 February, we launched the first ever national strategy for children's palliative care, Better Care: Better Lives. The strategy will assist local commissioners, providers and regulators in devising local strategies to enable every child and young person with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition access to high-quality, family- centred, sustainable care and support with services provided in a setting of choice according to the child's and family's wishes. It sets out clear expectations for improving choice, access and continuity of care, and seeks to place palliative care at the centre of local children's service provision.

We also announced an additional £20 million in funding to enable the children's hospices and hospice at home grant to continue in 2009-10 and 2010-11 with £10 million available in each year.

Patient Choice Schemes

Mr. Walker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of hours per week GPs spent using the Choose and Book system in the most recent period for which figures are available. [185824]

25 Feb 2008 : Column 1213W

Mr. Bradshaw:
The Department does not collect information centrally on the number of hours per week that general practitioners spend using Choose and Book.

Benchmarked timings have been published showing the average length of time taken to use Choose and Book when it is correctly configured:

to log on to the system takes about 9 seconds;

to generate an appointment request takes about 38 seconds; or

to book an appointment takes 47 seconds.

These times are how long it takes the computers to respond, and do not take into account the time required for the clinical and booking conversation that is needed with the patient.

Post-Mortems: Children

Mr. Heath:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many post-mortem examinations were carried out on children aged between five and 15 years in each coroner's district in each of the last five years. [184742]

Mr. Bradshaw:
The information is not available in the format requested. The Office for National Statistics collects data on the deaths of children in England aged between five and 15 years where a post-mortem examination has been carried out. It is not broken down by coroners district. The information available is shown in the following table.